Growing Up As A Shaolin Monk | Inside China: Kung Fu | TRACKS

shaolin

temple home to an ancient sect of warrior

monk

s proud defenders of an ancient tradition until now today a new generation is reinventing the

shaolin

temple as

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fu

monk

s take on a challenge like nothing less than doing business in the 21st century

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fu monks Of the Shaolin Temple for over a thousand years they have protected the emperors of China and defended their nation with their dazzling fighting skills mmm, a formidable legacy and a lot to live up to if you are only 10 years old, welcome to the training camp. shaolin style two hands on the foot straighten the body this is lu zhen zhang one of the youngest novice monks of shaolin zhenjiang lived with his parents in fujian province until he was selected for a place in the temple a year ago since then he has lived in shaolin temple with more than 40 novice monks, all of them carefully selected from kung fu schools throughout China, training three hours in the morning two and a half hours in the afternoon 365 days a year, always under the watchful eye of the sergeant yan shu shaolin instructor aim your feet straight your work to turn this group of children into real kung fu monks keep your back straight kick correctly hurry up, hurry up, faster, faster, faster kung fu chinese words evoke honor and glory, but they translate into English simply as hard work, it's a punishing regime even for these guys the best of the best that's why xiaolin calls their rookies the hopefuls at home each one of these guys was a star but now They are all competing against each other in hopes of being one of the few who will eventually get what they came here for for a spot on the Shaolin team.

Performance teams travel the world captivating audiences with dazzling kung fu displays. It's a ticket out of rural China to a life of stardom, but there's only one way to get there: coming. here shaolin monastery located in the songhang mountains 846 kilometers southwest of beijing and thousands of lonely kilometers from zhen zhang's home life in shaolin was a big adjustment for these children and jin jong is still adjusting when i first arrived here once i missed home a lot i cried every day after a while i got used to it i have a lot of friends in martial arts class they treat me like a little brother one of zhenjong's older brothers at the temple is 18 years old jo jinbal has been here for Six years old and he has his own plan to form the traveling team Jinbo's specialty is iron kung fu to master it a monk must train to numb the pain of a specific part of his body and Jinbo has chosen his head.

It was very difficult at first in each class we got on our heads. At least for half an hour it hurt so much that I wanted to cry but I didn't want my teacher to see me, so I cried at night in my bed. Jinbo has endured pain for two full years of hard training in hopes of mastering iron kung. Fu will help you beat the competition and form an exhibition team that will seek to fulfill your quest for Shaolin by delving into the traditions of Kung Fu. I want to travel around the world and perform to make the salt temple even more famous, but another of young Zhengjong's companions, Dongdong, hopes that he will become a star doing something you've never done before. dongdong's extraordinary talents have earned him a spot on a very special touring team for the first time in over a thousand years.

Shaolin monks are learning moves created by Western outsiders, Belgian choreographer Siddhi Labi Shakawi and Polish composer Shimon Broska has spent two months here developing a new Shaolin performance for one of the world's most prestigious dance venues. Sadler's Worlds London. It's part Shaolin kung fu and part interpretive dance, but it's all new to these monks. It's a very, very heavy scene for them. because usually they would do a little sequence and then say thank you and leave, and now they have to keep moving and moving and moving until exhaustion, as if the very concept of marrying dance and kung fu wasn't radical enough.

The cities just decided to introduce some new accessories 21 very large boxes and with 21 boxes you can create an infinite number of buildings you can create a temple you can create a cemetery you can create a zoo with cages there are so many ways while fighting with the new accessories the dancer The monks They are aware that they only have two months left before performing this never-before-tried routine in front of one of the most sophisticated audiences in the world. Oh, and before they can leave for London, they have to please a uniform audience. The harshest critic seems as traditional as any Buddhist monk, especially this morning as he presides over one of Shaolin's most sacred rituals each year in March.

Shaolin honors its deceased abbots in a group of 200 stone pagodas located to the west of the temple, each of which is a monument to former abbot Shir Yongshin's predecessor, Shir Shushi, who died in 2007. Shir Shushi Pagoda It is carved with images of the changes he saw during his life airplane travel computers video cameras icons of the modern world dealing with change is just a routine part of daily life The abbot is determined that, as China moves towards the 21st century, Shaolin Temple is not left behind and to make sure that doesn't happen, it is changing Shaolin in new and radical ways every day, from dawn to dusk, Shaolin transforms from a Buddhist temple to a land of Buddha. one of China's top tourist destinations for 100 yuan, about 15 US dollars, visitors have access to the most sacred relics of the inner temple and, if they are willing to spend more money, can take home some officially blessed souvenirs and the opportunity to observe the warrior.

The practicing monks fill the house day after day, but tourists are not the only ones who observe the temple security is strict, change has its price, we face new challenges and missions, being a tourism company, we encounter many security problems. copyright infringement, many companies use the name. of shaolin without authorization, some of them were even registered as their own, so we have to restore the demand for copyright, since the apostle of change of shaolin, abbot shir young shins, had to become more than just a spiritual leader; now also a brand manager looking after one of Xiaolin, China's best-known exporter, built a multi-billion dollar business with portfolios of investment and property, media, tourism and healthcare, and brands going global with ties to temples and kung fu schools in the US and Europe at their corporate headquarters, web designers and a business director. receiving instructions from the CEO despite his shaved head and saffron robe Shir Yong Shin is not like any other Shaolin Abbott World fame inspires praise and criticism and many imitators in the neighboring city of Dongfong thousands of students support the kung fu economy largest martial arts school has two campuses and 25,000 students.

All schools promise instruction from authentic Shaolin masters. The signs out front say shaolin temple but they are huge western style buildings suggesting something is very different and it is these children who are learning wushu in a highly competitive manner. The sports version of kung fu. Shaolin monks do not compete, but wushu students do. They may win trophies, but they are not real. Only the most talented wushu graduate can hope to earn a place on a shaolin temple exhibition team. The best, most of these. What thousands of people can aspire to is a job as a security guard or police officer, even at Xiaolin Temple.

Applicants who are not part of a traveling exhibition team face a much more difficult future working as martial arts teachers in wushu schools or hiring themselves as bodyguards, so this man's opinion really matters yanda is the master of the temple run by martial arts monks he decides who has what it takes to join one of the shaolin display teams and he is not an easy man to impress there is a saying in chinese good students come from strict teachers the only way They will be successful in the future if we are strict with them in just a few more days.

Yanda and the other senior monks will choose this year's travel teams. All aspirants know that discipline will be the key to success along with their teacher. Jinbo and his classmates never stop practicing the old routines they hope will make them stars. Feats of power and resistance that defy all rational explanation. Monks can concentrate the energy or qi in their body into a force so powerful that over the centuries they have opened holes in the ground. temple floor only a perfect harmony of body and mind can generate that kind of power something that the aspirants know very well as the big day approaches they renew their devotion to the buddhist heritage of shaolin jinbo and some of their friends make a pilgrimage To the place where Shaolin Kung Fu began high in the sunny mountains according to legend, a Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma or Damo meditated in a cave high above the monastery for nine years developing the world-famous tradition that the Chinese called Chan and the Japanese Zen, if that were true, dharma would have been all.

All too familiar with the aches and pains of sitting for too long, legends say he invented a series of body movements to help relieve tension. Movement that evolved into kung fu. Today, Shaolin kung fu has more than 700 movements. You can't do things like this. unless your mind has mastered it, oh, even in today's shaolin without spiritual commitment there is no success, we choose people first for their ethics, they have to be able to endure difficulties, they respect their elders and they have to be religious, If an Inshalam monk is not a Buddhist, we cannot call him a martial arts monk Today Zhenjiang is receiving religious instruction from one of the temple's oldest ordained monks.

Shir Young Chance, sixty years old, spent most of his life in Shaolin and offers his wisdom to young aspirants studying martial arts and also meditation you need to integrate tanning into martial arts what is tran master chan is everywhere They will stand when you lie and when you stand when you walk and when you sit It is quite magical and very meaningful Zhenjong listens respectfully and tries his best to practice Chan principles as part of his kung fu training, but he and his friends are not here alone to become Buddhist monks. Come on, Shaolin's roots may be ancient and sacred, but today Hollywood is an effective recruiter.

Aspirants like zhenjong dream of being the next kung fu mega star. Favorite kung fu star in movies is jackie chan. I watch a lot of his movies nowadays. A generation gap separates Shaolin novices from senior monks. Xir Yong-chan didn't grow up playing computer games or watching action movies, and Zhen Zhang can't imagine which one is his. The master saw and survived the wars and upheavals of 20th-century China. He almost killed Shaolin for centuries. Kung fu had been a powerful defense against all enemies, but it was no match for machine guns and artillery in the 1920s. Fighting warlords tore China apart and Shaolin became a casualty. war in 1928 a local militia set fire to its main halls destroying Buddhist icons and sacred writings leaving an ancient tradition in ruins when shir young chian began his life as a shaolin novice there were only 15 monks left it was a moment he remembers very well when I arrived here for first time I worked in the fields everything was destroyed it was a painful moment we all cried the shaolin temple seemed destined for a slow death and then in the 1980s that destiny changed thanks to two men, one was the one who proclaimed that getting rich is glorious and unleash

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's boundless entrepreneurial energy after decades of marxist repression the other was jet li in 1982 lee was an unknown hong kong actor and martial arts expert when he starred in the shaolin temple in a cinematic story of honor and revenge that shows his Dazzling kung fu skills and their worship of ancient Shaolin warrior monks since the 1980s, China's exploding economy and the global craze for martial arts films have lifted Shaolin from the ashes and launched it into the 21st century.

The mission is to manage the reincarnation of his temple in the new China and that is by taking it where no shaolin abbott has gone, before the national people's congress of the communist party in the province of beijing, representing the interests of shaolin in a sea of ​​worldly power, He is a kind of star here, people know that he moves and shakes and it is rumored that he is one of the most important in the country. Influential men, star power, an open mind, and government sponsorship have helped the young shin resurrect the fame and fortune of his ancient temples.

Surilabi Shakawa is about to find out if his avant-garde dance routine will take too muchaway to the shaolin dongdong temple exhibition team and his fellow monks have been working hard to make his dream come true, to a standing ovation from an adoring London audience and the temples always encouraged their renowned visiting choreographers to do their thing. He came here in May. I met Master Yanda, who was not at all what I expected from a monk actually when I was telling him that some of the monks, the way they moved, reminded me of some hip-hop dancers that I knew he said, yeah, but if you want to work with them in a hip-hop form, do it and I was like I was looking at it like they were joking with the cities, hoping that a combination of dance and kung fu that really connects has never been tried before. to the western public with the shaolin monks.

I just hope it's a good performance and I think it will be. It will be surprising in the sense that it will be surprising to some people how close they are to these monks, but will it connect with Abbott Shir Young Shin? If you don't like it, the London premiere will end before Iron begins. Monk Jimbo is chasing stardom the old-fashioned way, but that doesn't make his quest any easier. Jinbo might be able to break iron bars with his head, but he needs more than one trick to make the traveling team. Kung fu stars must master one of the Shaolin ones.

Traditional weapons Staffs Swords or chains Jinbo's specialty is the sword and chain A potentially lethal combination Except these weapons were never intended to take lives Buddhism discourages violence and the killing of any living being It is strictly prohibited if you look closer at the sword and the jinbo chain, you will see that they are made of wood, tin or some other non-lethal material. The distinctive weapon of Shaolin is a wooden staff called a plug hundreds of years ago during the Ming Dynasty. The marshal monks disarmed their opponents with it. Those days they fought a lot, always with the permission of the emperor, against enemies who tried to plunder the riches of Shaolin and destroy their political power.

Oh, at one period the temple's standing army numbered two thousand, so weapons training survives to this day as a prestigious part of a kung fu star's performance and a commemoration of Shaolin's fierce determination to survive. in less than a week yanda will make his decision on who will be part of the team and travel the world practicing xiaolin kung fu and who will have to return to basic training the mind, breathing and strength must work together to win oh jinbo and zhen zhang They have high hopes but only a few days before the big decision Jinjong suffers serious bad luck Master My foot is injured How did that happen when I was jogging the other day Does it hurt?

Yes, the timing couldn't be worse. One word from the doctor could keep zhenjong out of the exhibition team and out of his dreams. When did you sprain your ankle a couple of days ago? Take off your shoes. Let me have a look, it hurts when I walk or run, the usual doctor's prescription, suck it up and get back to your training and prove that you are a tough shaolin monk. The children here can endure a lot unless they are seriously injured, they were practiced with injuries, but jinjong. ankle is seriously injured, he will be out of action for at least a week, which could ruin his chances of making the team and earning a spot on this year's touring exhibition team, suddenly the year of hard work of zhenjong could be in vain on the day of decision.

It starts like any other, but for novice kung fu monks it is the most important day of their young lives. The iron monk Jinbo will need all the sustenance he can get to prove to Yanda that he is ready to be selected into squad A, but zhen zhang leaves. To need more than food to help heal his injury it will take a miracle to fix his ankle in time for practice. In morning training, Zhenjong can only watch as the other aspirants perform a routine that Shaolin monks have practiced for centuries. seven star is the last chance to impress the seven star routine is a traditional routine required for every monk here when we perform we do the seven star routine because it looks better go to Australia is the time for the masters on the list announce who is going to go back to basics? and who will soon be packing their bags for the opportunity of a lifetime this afternoon we will divide them into two groups 10 hours b will soon realize their dream of traveling and performing around the world helping to make shaolin even more famous.

He's healed and hasn't made the cut, but Yanda and Shu have a special task for him, to teach one of the new recruits, today is also the day that Shaolin's most radical new innovation will meet his fate. Shaolin's first east-west dance collaboration could take the monk marshals in a bold new direction, but first it needs the temple's official seal of approval and that means a private performance for abbot Sri Yong-shin. the abbot has just returned from Beijing and is asked to watch the dancers perform if he does not. I like what he sees, the rest of the world will never see it.

The command performance is just a few minutes away and the cities are a little anxious. It is something very important because he has not seen anything except some photographs. He has seen some photographs of the artists. of ideas, but you've never really seen what monks are in it and what they're doing and stuff like that, so I'm really curious to know what you think. This is with a simple gesture, the abbot shows approval of him. city ​​job everyone is relieved soon these monks will head to london where they will take on the best professional dancers in the business thanks to an abbot who takes risks and believes in change shu yong shin's transformation of shaolin from a cultural relic to brink of extinction in a thriving capitalist enterprise some say he is ruining the spiritual integrity of shaolin but he is willing to withstand the pressure for it shaolin is the change.

I believe that if our first teacher, master buddhi dharma, was alive today, he would have done the same to adapt to today's society and adapt to the present time you can survive and develop iron monk jimbo will soon travel abroad to join the ranks of the best players in shaolin his foot has healed and he has finally reunited with his friends as they fight for positions on future exhibition teams I think not Very good, for the moment I will work harder and improve so I can perform throughout the country. Zhenjong and his classmates may never become fully ordained martial monks, but after years of training and meditation in this temple, they will always take a little time. of shaolin with them for over a thousand years has kept its spiritual heart intact while surviving in a changing world now

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is changing again and shaolin is surviving and even thriving changing with it, but for those who love this ancient place and dedicate their lives to He Shaolin The temple will always be what it has always been, a fortress of enlightenment and a sanctuary for the soul.